It’s no coincidence that, year after year, the Nordic nations top the list of the world’s happiest countries (compiled by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network). Finland once again came first in the latest edition, with Iceland in second place, and Denmark, Sweden and Norway all in the top 10. Although happiness is a difficult state to define – and there is no magic formula for achieving it – if we analyse the common traits of people in this region, we find a philosophy of wellbeing which prioritises contact with nature, reading and work-life balance at all levels. This also brings us to the “85 per cent rule”. Here’s everything you need to know.
What is the 85 per cent rule?
Within this philosophy of balance, there are a few mantras linked to the importance placed on work. While the culture of overwork and the success associated with productivity is a fairly globalised concept, in the Nordic countries, people make an effort to cherish the small moments of calm in their daily lives. As explained on the Nordic lifestyle platform Nordwise, many people in Nordic nations implement the so-called “85 per cent rule” to prevent burnout: “Do your job well, but never completely drain your reserves. Work at 85 per cent of your capacity. By intentionally holding back a little of your energy, you protect your nervous system and have the strength to enjoy your evening.” The goal is sustained energy, and ensuring that the remaining 15 per cent of what’s in your tank can be saved for everything else: spending time with family, making dinner, having a good conversation, reading… It makes sense, given that when you consistently give 100 per cent, you’re likely to arrive home totally exhausted and unable to enjoy anything else.
Giving your all also usually means keeping your nervous system on high alert; preparing our body for flight. As psychologist María Jesús Álava explained to us, this accounts for physical exhaustion: “Even when we’re sitting down, seemingly doing nothing, the fatigue we accumulate is similar to what we’d feel if we’d been running uphill for hours, nonstop. The entire time we’re mulling over something that worries us, our body is in an extreme state. We experience intense muscular tension; our heart is racing; we hyperventilate. In the end, we’re exhausted.”
It’s crucial to remember that not everything requires the same level of effort. “It’s a strategy for emotional sustainability, not a sign of complacency,” confirms psychologist Marta Calderero. The brain isn’t designed to perform at a consistently high level across multiple fronts, even though that is the cultural expectation we’ve normalised – it must operate in cycles, with moments of high intensity followed by periods of maintenance. It’s trying to always live at our absolute limit which leads to burnout. When you consciously choose not to give 100 per cent to a task which doesn’t require it, that means you’re beginning to recognise “that your energy is valuable and that not everything deserves the same level of commitment”.
3 rules for protecting your evenings
Instead of waiting for the weekend to rest, the key is to preserve small moments of calm each day. To that end, here are three rules for creating a more leisurely afternoon routine.
Create a physical boundary to help you switch off
For instance, you might want to put on more comfortable clothes as soon as you get home. This sends a clear message to our brain, marking the physical and temporal separation between your work and life at home.
Avoid “zombie mode”
In other words, staring at your phone and getting lost in a loop of scrolling. Make a habit of putting your phone away and getting stuck into hands-on activities: preparing dinner, reading or getting some exercise in. An important fact to remember: blue light causes melatonin levels to plummet by 55 per cent before bedtime.
Invest in the right lighting
Downward-facing lamps and warm, soft-lit lightbulbs offer a shortcut to creating a cosy atmosphere in your home, particularly for the areas in which you wish to relax. Another way to pause and take a moment for your body and brain? Light a candle. It can really be as simple as that.
